Computer Science and Engineering

Angela Foss's Dream Job

As a computer engineer, Angela has already enjoyed several very different and fascinating jobs: video game developer, technical coordinator of a tutoring program, and creator of an art program for students with disabilities.

What she does now
Angela is the technical coordinator of the athletic tutoring program at the University of Arizona. Sports are a big part of the university, and Angela’s job is to make sure Arizona's student athletes keep up their grades.

About half of her job involves programming: she's developed a sophisticated database that tracks the academic progress of 500 freshmen; the other half of her job is working directly with the students and their tutors.

Why she loves it"The job is tailor-made for me because it is a nice balance of engineering, teaching, and management. I like programming and I like the technical side, but I also like people interaction and there's a lot of room for that."

Helping out with “Arts for All”When she was an undergraduate, Angela and a team of engineering students developed a computer system for a nonprofit art organization called Arts for All. The computer program helped students with cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and other physical disabilities to create paintings, even though many of them could no longer hold a paintbrush.

Designing video games
Angela’s first job out of school was developing an online flash game for the Game Show Network.

Engineering and teamwork“With some of the projects that engineers take on, there's no way one person could complete them working alone. A project is going to be twenty times better if you pull all the greatest ideas from a lot of great minds.”

Education
Angela attended the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she now works, graduating with a B.S. in computer engineering.

Money and happiness“You can make a lot of money being an engineer. I’ve tried to always remember that no matter how much money I make, I want to make sure I’m happy. You have to find the right fit for yourself.”

Major funding for Engineer Your Life provided by The National Science Foundation and Northrop Grumman Foundation. Additional funding provided by Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr and the United Engineering Foundation (ASCE, ASME, AIChE, IEEE, AIME).